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¿Question #553?
EndersGame: When you dial a wrong number, why is it never busy?

Phil Fleischmann: How would you know?
El Hidalgo: The universe is giving new friendships an opportunity!
Pithagoras: because the guy on the other end is Indian.
oldhoss: You know, I can't remember the last time I actually got a busy signal. Years maybe?
JDigman62: Karma
Felimid: C'est la vie.
Woelf: Sometimes it could be, but you can't know for sure unless someone answers and tells you it was wrong.
pwilz: Did any of your ancestors die in early childhood?
ricardofo: Most of the time the phone is never busy. Even when you dial the right number.
KrisVerbeeck: Because if it isn't busy you won't know if you dialled a wrong number
Frubgarde: It could be argued that if it were busy, you might be unaware that you'd misdialled.
cgund: ..
Numskull: If it were, you wouldn't know it was a wrong number.
manutd03: lol. Murphy's law?
Evonine: Because you don't know its a wrong number until the person you are not trying to call answers.
bigbadsteve: so you can be embarassed
Blade Spirit: Yeah really...
chockle: Because if it's busy, you don't realize you dialed the wrong number.
tipigi: hahaha, that is very true isn't it!
themagni: Probability.
DHEK: It's one of those unexplainable laws of the universe.
purvisa: hrm
mcross: Now that is a good question.
ZiggyZambo: government conspiracy
anonInternetName: I have dialed the wrong number and it was busy
scriptorum: Because people dial DIFFERENT wrong numbers. If we all dialed the same wrong number, of course it would be busy!
Sandsquish: How do you know the busy ones weren't wrong?
arkibet: Phones are never busy anymore with call waiting and voicemail
vampywife: we have to have something to remind us that we are human and to be humble about it
AxleKerrigan: Sometimes it is, but you'd never know you misdialed.
Avatar_69: How do you know it's a wrong number if no-one answers?
Frankenfletch: hmmm..... never thought of that. good question.
KDSN: luck
Chris Page: That's what makes it wrong.
japhmi: Because you then call back.
Kazin: Woah man... That's deep...
ZombyDawg: If you dial it enough times pretty soon they take the phone off the hook so that you DO get a busy signal.
LemonyFresh: Hehe - good question! I guess because numbers in general are rarely busy anymore.
phurballdj: Maybe I have dialed busy wrong numbers before, but didn't know they were wrong because it was busy.
Gialmere: Karma
locusshifter: i use voice dial
Loquutus: Answer this question, and you will master the universe.
Tushratta: Because people who have wrong numbers never get calls that are for them.
mcbeth: phone-gnomes
POvidiusNaso: That's a damn fine question.
javelin98: lol
obob: I've had it happen: Called; got a busy; waited a while; called again; friend insisted phone hadn't been touched all day.
GrandpaDave: Because God hates you.
sourwyrm: haha
CharlieWonka: Murphy's Law
Nem Menuu: To embarrass you.
ngymish: Synchronicity?
Gecko23: because most phones aren't busy.
The Unbeliever: 42
puffinge: yea, why do I only get a busy signal when I dial the correct number? Why?
bluebehir: Chance?
ThatFalafelGirl: it is, but you don't notice it because you don't know it's the wrong number.
Lord_Prussian: You don't realize it's a wrong number and redial the right one.
SwedeLad: It always is for me.
berserkley: wrong numbers have no lives
2amp: you'd never know it was a wrong number until it was answered
skrutsch: What's really bad is when you keep dialing a number and it keeps being busy and you figure out you're dialing the number you're calling from.
nexttothemoon: Well you'd probably keep trying until you "succeeded" in reaching your wrong number even if it was.
rawk: the person on the other end is a loser
Tim Synge: My phone has a keypad, not a dial.
jimchris: Well, you don't get to know if it is, do you?
nm156: How do you know?
isolated: Because the phone hates you
Oborro: probability
AlorielLelyn: Actually, I've had a busy wrong number before. But not since call waiting came about.
fellonmyhead: It is.
Genghis: Because if it was busy, there'd be nothing to indicate it was a wrong number.
Styro: Negative Karma
thugbert: If it was busy then you would not know that it was wrong
Gregarius: Because then you don't learn it's a wrong number.
Blackwind: sometimes it is silly
Ludocrazy: Murphy's Law
DangerMouse: Hmmm... good question.
gnomehome: It is sometimes!
sdownin: Allow me to introduce you to my friend Murphy. He's got this great law you need to read about.
chaddyboy_2000: It is sometimes.
louiseh: Because if it was you wouldn't know it was a wrong number. Honestly, can't you work that out for yourself?
darthcliff: If more people wanted to talk to them, it wouldn't be a wrong number
kennyb: now thats a good point
jaredh: almost everybody has call waiting now....but an interesting quesiton....
LudesFactor: duh
netfilterz: When it is, how do you notice...?
nnf1: fate
BobDodgerBlue: Hmm... Great question
yossarians: how would you know?
Karlsen: Because if it was busy it wouldn't be a wrong number - and you know if it is busy it would be Schroedinger's cat on the phone don't you?
CDRodeffer: You owe a GeekGold to everyone who answers any of your questions.
Shakar: So you will know it's a wrong number.
snoozefest: right numbers rarely are, also
jttm: I could tell you, but then ... you'd know...
queequeg: same reason my toothbrush always lands in the toilet when i drop it
silverpenny: Because the man that controls the "Wrong Number Directorate" never sleeps.
kimbo: That's irony for you. Besides, how would you now it was a wrong number if it was busy? Hmm?
djlg: It is sometimes. You just never notice.
MisterCranky: Secret preconditioning logic in the trunk line software.
ping9x: Very good question.. pointless, but good.
PopeBrain: If it was, you'd never know you dialed the wrong number. Kinda like, Why do you always find something in the last place you look?
CortexBomb: Because normal people don't use their phone enough hours out of the day to make it statistically likely?
Magnus the Blue: Voice mail & Call Waiting
tragicpoet: No one else wants to talk to that person on purpose either
EYE of NiGHT: If it was busy, you'd not be told it was the wrong number.
skelebone: Every time I dial the wrong number, it's the same wrong number, and grandma's still dead.
Flyspeck23: Because if it would be busy, you wouldn't know that it's the wrong number.
Gelatinous Goo: call waiting
melissa: It's in the routing system at the telephone company. If the wrong number you dialled is busy, they increment it to the next number up. As long as that's not the number you wanted, of course.